St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-05-19
More Room is Needed Wherein the Rap
idly Increasing Population of
st. Paul May Live.
a General Demand for Class of Houses
Within the Reach of the Great
Middle Class.
What Prominent Citizens Have to Say
on This Topic Many Interest
ing Opinions Given.

i've unless he goes out alllOSt 10 TIE
city limits. There ought to be more
houses. Rents are awful and house
hunting is killing off new corners to the
city"
Remarks similar to the above may be
heard on every street corner.
Young men who are about to get mar
ried; who propose to set up houSekeep-
ing and haven't become hardened to
h0uSehunting by experience, make the
complaint most often, perhaps,
For Rent" has gone out of date.
Some days ago the GLOBE spoke of
the need of more dwelling houses of Il
class that would suit the taste and purse
of the middle classes, so called. Since
then several communications favorable
to this idea have been received.
4 number of prominent gentlemen were
asked to give their opinions on
/ the points involved yesterday, with
more or less reference to the need of
| houses such as laboring men could at
| fcrd to live in: They will be read with
interest. Everyone interviewed be-
lieyed that the influx of population to
st. Paul this year was unusually large,
and several expressed the idea that, if
! necessary. organized effort should be
| made to provide homes for them.
WHAT THEY SAID.
pressing necessity, although lie had
not considered any detailed plan for the
! Improvement of the condition of those
who must rent houses. 1t was some
! thing that real estate men should give
| careful attention to, for the working
classes had too much of a burden on
their shoulders now under existing
rentals.
Dennis Ryan-It is very good idea,
and one that should be encouraged in
! every way. If syndicate could be
| formed to erect desirable houses for the
| labCring people of st. Paul the city
ought to rescind the taxes. for, after
! paying insurance rates and taxes, there
was little left for the investors. Every
| where comes the cry for a reduction of
| rents and more houses. and | do
not believe that there are half a dozen
available houses to-day in st. Paul.
Under the present scale of wages a
labOringman could not atfordto pay more
than $40 a menth in house rent, whereas,
| three times that sum is demanded ROW.
TO he sure, a man has right to get all
| the return possible on his investment,
and that is the underlying principle i'll
house construction.
Gen. II. w. Johnson said: II have
preached a reduction of rent and small
er and cheaper houses for the past
fifteen years, for know it is impossible
for poor people to have anything left
for the neceSsaries of life after paying
from S25 to $40 month in rent. 1t has
made difference of 1900 in the pOpu-
Iati0n of St. Paul, because the high
rent eXacted has driven so many
mechanics away from this Sec
ton of the country. An industrious,
Woodworking man receiving say on an
Af ,tax- hn re n
every day cannot make much over $50 a
month, and he should not pay more
than SO or, at the outside, Sl5 month
rent. Minneapolis has profited by this
oversight on the part OF st. Paul, and
many mechanics keep their families
there while they work in st. Paul, and
find this a much cheaper arrangement.
There should have been Il systematic
effort on the part of the working people
to form sy Indicate and buy section
of land just as was recently done at
Philadelphia. Let
TEN THOUSAND LABORING MEN
contribute 81 apiece to make the
first payment on a tract of land and
the subsequent drafts upon them would
be easy and Il thriving settlement would
spring up OH the land thus purchased.
There would be no difficulty about the
street cars going to them if s7lch move
was made, for they would not be SO
oblivious to their own interests as to
neglect the people that go to make up a
town. Let the GLOBE perSevere in this
crusade until the real estate people OF
St. Paul are brought to a realization OF
the necessity for these cheap homes fol
the labOrerS of the Northwest. No city
can survive without poor people. and
there must be place to put them, and
10 consideration has thus far been given
| this class of citizens in putting up resi-
denceS.'
Gen. George L. Becker-Yes, there is
great scarcity of houses, which are in
very great demand-mind do not mean
the cheaper houses, but the houses that
will rent for $40. S45 and $50 per month
! Those are the houses we need. and il
there were large number of them
built they would be in great demand
d, not for rent only, but for sale also.
w. J. FreaHey-There is indeed q
scarcity of the medium class of houses
think there viii be more building
done this year than ever.
What is needed in the building line
at st. Paul" said John Summers, of the
Windsor, is not so much for the labor
ing classes as for clerks and what might
be termed the middle classes. People
with money to invest naturally desire {
good return and hence they put it i'll the
higher grade Of houses, for which a goo(
rent can be obtained. III order to cater
to the mechanic class the suburbs should
be more closely connected with the city
bv means OF motors, upon which the
fare should not exceed 5 cents each way
BY this means q class could lie reached
that would not patrOniZe a railroad line
and besides. it would be too expenSive-tt
attempt an enterprise of the kind fol
such Il low rate of transportation.
My idea of This propositions" re
marked mine host WelZ, Of tn,
Merchants. lis for capitalists t.
erect houses by the hundred afte
the plan pursued in Philadelphia, ant
allow tenants 10 pay for them i'll small
sums and at the end of certain tim,
The trouble, though, seems out here
that too much percentage is wanted, TO
when an Eastern capitalist regards
sure return of per cent on his invest
ment as being a good thing, in thi
neighborhood. anxiety to acquire a com
petence in d short time, seems to be TIL
root of evil. There is great deal O
money tied up that could be prOfitabl,
J, invested i'll tenement houses, whicl
would always be occupied and yield
| handsome revenue, and the wonder t.
me is that the experiment has not beel
fried
Capt. Russell Blakely-It is very diff
cult at present TO find accommodation
of any kind. Those III comfortable eli
!, | eumstances find it as hard to secur
houses as the poorer people. TIL
; main trouble now is that peopI
are holding their lands for speculation
instead Of improving them, which is, b.
far. the better investment. The Ius
for houses, think, will continue. Their
,. are large numbers of people settlin
| in,